The Seven Fortified Towns

[shewhomust]

Viscri is somewhere else again. Southern Transylvania was settled by Saxons during the middle ages; this is where the children lured away from Hanover by the Pied Piper emerged on the other side of the mountain. They called the region Siebenbürgen, the seven "burgs", fortified towns.

Now it is characterised by villages in which gingerbread houses - all baroque curves, candy colours and whipped cream - stand end-on to broad greens. With the fall of communism, ethnic Germans were encouraged by the German government to return "home", and the great fortress churches have congregations of a dozen or so Lutheran worshippers. Viscri is typical of these villages - or rather, it is atypical only in the extent to which it has been adopted as typical and therefore worthy of attention and restoration.

Signs pointed to the houses of the keyholders, mother and daughter, who keep the keys to the church, and it was the elderly mother who accompanied us, urging us in German to pick and eat some grapes grom the vine in her yard. I wanted to ask whether this was for our benefit, or whether German was her first language, but couldn't think how to say "first language". So it came out "Is German your mother tongue (Muttersprache)?"
"Yes, German was her mother tongue, and Romanian her national language (Landsprache)"
A pause: "We learned Russian at school."
A longer pause: "But at home we speak Letzeburgisch, because the family is originally from Luxembourg."

Comments

[tumulus.livejournal.com]

There are lots of places I want to visit in Eastern Europe, but Romania was never on the list. You're making me reevaluate that! So many worderful things to see.

So much world, so little time!

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Mind, it's only fair, because you've been making me long to revisit the Four Corners - but I'd certainly love to see what you'd bring back from Romania!